Paula Otley, BACP, NCPS

Paula Otley is a counsellor who focuses on helping people facing stress, anxiety, relationship difficulties and intimacy-related issues. She also supports those dealing with grief, low self-esteem, depression, addictions and a wide range of life stresses. Paula brings 16 years of experience to her work and meets people with warmth and steadiness.

She began supporting bereaved people as a volunteer, sitting alongside clients during some of their hardest days. That experience shaped her move into professional counselling. Paula trained as an integrative counsellor with an emphasis on person-centred and psychodynamic approaches and later added cognitive behavioural therapy to her methods.

Paula works from a relational perspective. She aims to build a strong therapeutic connection first, then decide together what to do next. Sessions mix listening, reflection and practical strategies to help people notice patterns and try different ways of coping.

Her background includes work in GP practices, the NHS, charities, community counselling services, private practice and employee assistance programmes. That variety means she is used to different needs and ways of working.

People can expect a collaborative style where the counsellor helps them shape goals and steps forward. Paula is registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, BACP, and is listed with NCPS. She works in the United Kingdom and offers sessions in English.

How Paula’s approaches work online

Paula uses attachment-based ideas and client-centred methods to focus on the relationship in therapy. Attachment-based work looks at how earlier relationships shape current feelings and reactions, which can help with intimacy issues, grief and long-standing patterns. Client-centred therapy centres the person’s experience and prioritises being heard and understood, creating space to explore worries and decisions.

She also draws on cognitive behavioural therapy, which looks at the links between thoughts, feelings and actions and offers practical steps to change unhelpful patterns. That approach can be useful for anxiety, low mood and stress by teaching concrete coping skills and manageable experiments.

Finding the right combination of approaches is part of the work together. The counsellor will help clients decide what feels most useful based on their needs, goals and preferences. Sessions are collaborative and paced to suit the person.

Session formats are not specified in the biography, so please confirm current options before booking. Online therapy can make it easier to fit meetings into a busy week, allow shorter check-ins when needed and remove travel time. It also lets people join from different locations, which can help those living abroad or juggling work and family commitments.